Activists here in Erie joined thousands of others across the world Friday, to demand actions to fight climate change.

“If you don’t do it, there will be no future,” Lavey Lester, a child in the Neighborhood Art House Program who took part in the strike said.

Young kids from the Neighborhood Art House addressed the mayor about what they call the climate crisis.

Their main message was to promote green infrastructure, green energy in American Rescue Plan spending in the city of Erie.

“Each one of us can make a change for climate change and that’s what their voices are resounding today and we have to have our government officials make change also,” Diane Esser said.

Esser is a climate educator who took part in the strike. She told Erie News Now that she feels it is important the kids are recognizing the climate is changing and said they can do things like planting trees and cleaning the streets to help save it.

A few Mercyhurst University students also joined in on the climate strike.

Mayor Schember listened closely to the concerns and says the city already has a number of projects to fight climate change

“The city has not been sitting idle,” Schember announced to the crowd. “We’ve been doing a lot over the last several years to try to fight the climate change that we are all experiencing now.”

He said among other efforts, the city is trying to reduce energy use by 50% by the year 2030.